Journey to Freedom - songs and stories of Sojourner Truth - March 5, 2011

Music of Sojourner Truth in Concert

Save the Date!

Cynthia Lowe, Ulster County Community Foundation, Esopus Town Supervisor John Coutant, Anne Gordon  AAUW member, and Pastor Evelyn Clarke at the dedication of the Sojourner Truth Memorial Park in Port Ewen.

On Saturday, March 5, Journey to Freedom - songs and stories of Sojourner Truth will be presented by the Sojourner Truth Memorial Fund and Heritage Folk Music, Inc at St James Methodist Church in Kingston. A variety of local singers and storytellers will give a 2 hour program, beginning at 7 pm. Admission is $10.

The concert will include songs written by Truth, spirituals, and songs from the Abolitionist movement and the Civil War. Storytellers Evelyn Clarke and Terry Gittens will be joined by singes, Betty & the Baby Boomers, the Veterans in a New Field, and several others. Refreshments will be served, accompanied by fiddlers, Earl and Mimi Pardini.

St. James Methodist Church is a fitting location for the concert. In 1827, the congregation welcomed as a member, Isabella Van Wagonen, a freed slave who later took the name Sojourner Truth. As a dynamic speaker advocating the end of slavery, voting rights for women, and basic human rights for all, she became one of the most notable women in the 19th century.

There is a statue of her in the National Women's Hall of Fame, and most recently, a statue of her was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol by the First Lady, Michelle Obama. The proceeds from this concert will be used to erect a statue of her in The Ulster County town, Esopus, where she was born and lived for the first 30 years of her life.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

7:00 pm

Journey to Freedom - songs and stories of Sojourner Truth

St James Methodist Church, Kingston 

Choral Concert Honors Sojourner Truth Feb. 28th

Image via Wikipedia

From Anne Gordon:

LISTENING FOR TRUTH, a benefit concert to raise funds for a memorial to Sojourner Truth, will be presented on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009 at 3 pm at the Reformed Church on Salem St. in Port Ewen.

The choral concert will feature the Esopus Festival Choir directed by Linda Bresnahan McCarthy, and the Ulster County Community Outreach Chorus, directed by Min. Dennis Washington. Music will include a variety of songs and hymns, some written by Sojourner Truth, and period music she would have known. In addition, a dramatic reading will be presented.

Tickets will be available for a suggested donation of $10 at the door. Seating is limited. Refreshments will be provided.

Money raised at the concert, through donations, and in the future at other fundraisers will be used to erect a statue to Sojourner Truth in a park being constructed on Broadway in Port Ewen. As a slave, Sojourner Truth lived and worked in a tavern which stood on the site in the 19^th century.

In 2005, the Esopus Town Board voted to name the park in her honor and a citizen's committee organized the Memorial Fund to raise funds for the statue. The Sojourner Truth Memorial Fund is affiliated with the Ulster County Community Foundation and all contributions are tax deductible.